TxDOT structure under review

An interesting article came out a couple weeks ago in the Dallas Morning News, covering the executive structure of TxDOT and whether it should be maintained. Here are the highlights:

Behind all the fiery rhetoric aimed at the Texas Department of Transportation at a hearing today, the question hovering over the future of the 14,000-employee agency really comes down to who can best be trusted to govern it.

The Sunset Advisory Commission, charged with deciding how and even whether the agency should continue, is asking whether TxDOT should continue to be led by a five-member panel appointed by the governor. Or should lawmakers oversee the department instead?

The latter proposal was among a series of recommendations made last month by the advisory commission’s staff. Those suggestions will be the basis for a proposal that the Texas Legislature will rule on when it returns to Austin in January.

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But for some of the 12 commission members, 10 of whom are lawmakers, the hard-charging attitude adopted by TxDOT since Gov. Rick Perry was first elected has left them convinced it can no longer be trusted to manage itself. They appeared to embrace the idea of replacing the Texas Transportation Commission, whose members have all been appointed by Mr. Perry, with a leader more directly accountable to lawmakers.

State Rep. Linda Harper Brown, R-Irving, said the sunset report reveals an agency whose leadership has failed it.

“Here are some of the words used in this report … ‘distrust, frustration, disconnected, inaccessibility, unstructured, undefined, unrealistic, disjointed, ineffective, unpredictable, outdated and difficult,’” she said.

Some eighty speakers had signed up to speak before the commission, and many of them used the occasion to blast the agency. Most faulted it for its hard push for private toll roads, an issue that roiled the 2007 Legislature and has continued to be controversial since.

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Lawmakers are still upset about what they called the arrogant handling by Ms. Delisi’s predecessor, former state lawmaker Ric Williamson who had led Mr. Perry’s push for private toll roads for years until his death by heart attack in December.

“It comes down to how we have been treated in the past,” said State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham. “In my relationship with your predecessor I was not given straightforward answers.”

You know, its an interesting conundrum. One advantage of the TxDOT board being appointed by the Governer is that it gives the office a bit of tangible influence on the shape of our cities. The board can be shaken up pretty substantially with a new state executive. Of course, at the present time, that isn’t helping anyone interested in urbanism, as Gov. Perry doesn’t care about such things. WIth the legislature in charge, we might see more of a moderatation of the agency, but the ability to reshape it quickly would be lost. Instead we would have an agency whose agenda would slowly drift over time in response to mainstream ideals.

So, should TxDOT’s leadership be appointed by the Governer, or selected by the Legislature? Or, do you have a different idea for it entirely? Let me know in your comments!